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A Trumpet Gives An Uncertain Sound (63-0114)
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A Trumpet Gives An Uncertain Sound (63-0114)
E-1
Thank you very much, brother. It's a great privilege to be here in this
Christian assembly tonight, down here in this icy country. I called
home awhile ago, and it's about twenty degrees warmer way up there in
the North than it is down here. I must have brought that with me. I'll
hurry out and get back again right quick. All the plants are freezing
up. What do you think about that, Creechy? [The brother says, "It's cold."--Ed.] It certainly is.
E-2
And it's a... Oh, it's really nice to be here tonight and have this
fine audience of people and standing around. And I--trusting now that
Brother Williams has told you all about (and Brother Rose here)--about
the oncoming convention (I guess you're well acquainted with it.) to be
at the Ramada right away: the Business Men's convention. And we're
expecting a great time there. Brother Velmer Gardner, a wonderful
forceful speaker, and other ministers, Oral Roberts, and many will be
there. And we're expecting a great time in the Lord.
E-3
I was speaking the other day to a doctor. I'm fixing to leave for
overseas, and you have to have a physical examination. So I was in for
an examination. And he put me on one of those wave... I... Don't ask me
what it is. And he found something strange. And he come back and
couldn't make it out, and he got a council of doctors, and he just
couldn't understand that. He said, "I never seen that before." And so
he showed me the picture of it, how that where ordinarily the
conscious, and you have a subconscious, and they are way wide from each
other. But he noticed on mine they was both right together. Said,
"You're a real odd fellow."
E-4
I was saying in one of the churches, maybe I... First one place, and
another, and around the country I make a remark sometimes, think I
might repeat it in the same church. But I was going out of the building
where I'd been kinda laying pretty heavy, about these people today
doing this here new dance they got, they call the twist, or something.
And I said, "I just don't know what in the world people want to break
their legs and--and act like that for." E-5 You know, David said one time, "As the hart thirsts for the water brook, my soul thirsts after Thee, O God." And if you've ever seen one of the little fellows when he's--he's been hurt... Maybe the dogs has got ahold of him, and jerked a big piece out of his side, or something, he's bleeding, and he... The dog can trail him. He's not like a man, and he can hunt that deer whether he's bleeding or not. And so the only way... If that deer's a bleeding, the only way that he can ever live is to get to where there's water. And if he can ever get where there's water, he'll drink that water, it'll stop the bleeding, and--and he can get away. He's pretty smart.
E-6
But now, you can imagine seeing one of the little fellows wounded and
bleeding, and just how his little head up, and all the sense that he
has of detecting where the water is with his nose, just... He must find
the water or perish. And now, it's just life and death to him, he...
He's... Just every--every--every bit of the sense that he has, he's
trying, longing; he must find it.
E-7
And now, night after night... And I like to see the faces you see at
one place you see them at another. I--I like that. You're showing your
fellowship and expressing what we are here for. Oh, I'd sure love to
see an old fashion revival in Phoenix. Oh, my. That word "Phoenix" has
thrilled me since the very first time I read it--of it: Phoenix,
Arizona. From a little boy I thought if I could ever get to that spot,
if I could ever get there to Phoenix, and now seeing it, and when we're
here we find it grossed in deepness of sin, like all the rest of the
places: tourists falling in, and drinking, carousing, immorality,
everything on hand.
E-8
Now, just before we read a little text of Scripture... I got in so late
I jotted down a few notes in about five minutes time. And the federal
income tax has just sent me some returns I had to get in right away,
and it's got to be postmarked, I think, maybe today yet. And so I got
to get in the post office. And when I got in Billy said, "You better
hurry." And so here...
E-9
The people putting in... Like we're having a campaign, and--and people,
they just know my name's William Branham; they just make out a check
for the expenses. The ministers take care of that. I never took a
offering in my life. And so, they get a... I get a salary from my
church, a hundred dollars a week.
E-10
I felt real bad at first, then I come to find out that every man in the
Bible, I believe, that ever held a spiritual office for God was
connected with the federal government. Check it back and find it out.
That's right. Moses, Daniel, John the Baptist, Jesus Christ died by the
hand of the federal government under capital punishment. Peter, James,
John the Revelator, all... Every... All suffered persecution. Why? It's
the seat of Satan. Do you know that? E-11 But there will be a time. They're got U.N.'s and Leagues of Nations and everything to try to bring peace. But as long as Satan's at the top of it, and politics, what's going to happen? They'll fight just as sure as the world. But there'll come a time when all arms will be stacked. And the taps will sound, and the morning breaks eternal bright and clear; our King shall take His throne. Oh, there'll be singing; there'll be shouting. And there'll be one flag, one people, one nation speaking one language: heavenly. Amen. I long for that time, and I'm pressing towards that mark, trusting to God someday when it's finished I can say--I can hear Him say to me, "Come up higher." E-12 I'm here in Phoenix tonight in the Name of the Lord. I would--would not try to explain what's happened. Many of you people that take the tapes, be sure to get that one, "What Time Is It, Sir?", that was just before I left home. A vision sent me here, and I don't know what. Now, I don't... I'm not a tape salesman, and I don't stress those things. We get them, and we got a tape business around the world. Way into the jungles and everywhere, they have a little something they put in their ears, they got, and can tape it into a tape and stand there and translate that right into the language. And it goes around the world.
E-13
And... But one that I had--that "What Time Is It, Sir?" or "Is This the
Time, Sir?"--some... I was... Saturday night three weeks ago at the
church, after... All my life I've seen visions. I never had anything
like this before in my life. Now, I don't know what it is. I'm just
here. But He sent me here. I don't know what it means. I just... I'm
just here, and I'm... Must be honest and sincere, and that's the only
way we'll ever get anywhere with God, is to be sincere, 'cause... Men
will know. God knows in the beginning you're not, whether you are or
not. And the men will know, because...
E-14
Now, let us bow our heads just a moment for prayer. Now, let's lay
aside every care now for the next few minutes. I wonder... In this
lovely little group of people here tonight, I know that there are those
jewels setting here that Jesus shall come to get someday that'll awake
out of the dust. E-15 Heavenly Father, now as we are approaching Thy throne by the way of the Blood, for... And Aaron went in before the mercy seat he took first the blood in his hand, then he went forward; and we by faith tonight receive the Blood of the Lord Jesus, and walk towards the throne of God boldly, knowing that we have a right to come, not in our own righteousness, but in His. The Blood represents our cleansing. And I pray, heavenly Father, that You will grant our petition. First we would ask You to be merciful to us, pardoning us of all of our transgressions as we confess our wrongs, and our little errors, and our secret sins, and our unknown sins. And we confess also as ministers, being priests, the sins of the people. Together, Lord, we stand. We love the people. We feel like Moses when he threw himself in the breach to hold the people... The wrath of God... What a display that was of the righteousness of Christ, when Christ throwed Himself in the breach to save the people.
E-16
And, Father, we as His servants with His Spirit in us, every Christian
here tonight, hold hisself before the sinner; God, be merciful to them.
We cry for the sick and the needy, for those precious hands, some of
them old, and some young, and some middle-aged, raising their hands.
You know all about that, Lord. We pray that You'll answer according to
Your riches in glory.
E-17
Now, if we should read a text of the Scripture, or a Scripture for a
text, rather, I Corinthians the 14th chapter, the 8th verse, reads like
this--in I Corinthians 14:8:
E-18 One day a fellow asked me, said, "How can you take the same text..."
E-19
In thinking of it just a few moments ago, when I was thinking on
the--that income tax affair, I thought, "There's hardly anything today
that's certain. Everything's got such an uncertainty to it." And
anything that's uncertain cannot be trusted. Anything that's uncertain
cannot be trusted. Stay away from it if it's not certain.
E-20
And this little money that you've got saved up, don't put it in your
pocket and leave it there, because thieves will steal it. See,
don't--don't do that. If you've got it, invest it in something. And
then you want to be sure of the certainty of your investment. If you
don't, why, don't invest it at all.
E-21
We used to could put a lot of confidence in our democracy, and which I
do think it's the best form of government. But still, our democracy is
shaky, because we are... This nation, our people, we have a
constitution and this constitution is--is our ultimate. But yet in
that, our constitution is shaky because it's already been broken many
times. The late Mr. Roosevelt made havoc out of it. So, see, you see it
can be broken. It's not much confidence you can put into it.
E-22 Someone said to me the other day; he said, "Are--are you going to vote this election?"
E-23
And you heard "Monitor" the other night, when they put a--a survey
across the country from the Mississippi east. Mr. Nixon had taken
the--this calling-in vote four to one. How can a man win? If it'd been
Mr. Kennedy, it'd have been the same way. I don't have either party. My
party's in heaven, and I'm right with them here tonight. We're setting
in heavenly places talking of our King. E-24 Now, home life has become uncertain. You know I seen a piece the other day in one of the journals somewhere, that the American divorce rate is higher than any other nation in the world. And we're supposed to be a religious nation. Yes, it could be that, religion all right. But it's not the right kind. See? Religion is just a covering. It's hard to tell what we make our covering out of. Adam tried to make some out of fig leaves, and it didn't work. It got awful shaky when he had to come out to meet God. So religion doesn't meet it all. But could you think that our divorce rate, higher than--than all the rest of the countries--our divorce rate? We find immorality on the move in our homes.
E-25
It was astounding to find out that a great percent on the survey of the
nation and in the... I believe it was in Ohio that a survey was taken
of Christianity, and it was alarming what a percent that did not even
go to church. And then, about eighty percent of those that went to
church didn't know why they went. They don't know why they go. They
just go to church. E-26 Now, we find out that we have tried to convert the world by an educational program, and we've really made a mess out of it, sure enough. You cannot convert the world to Christ through education. Education draws him away from God more than it draws him to God, because he tries to think he's smarter and knows more than somebody else. As good as education is, Christ never did commission His church to educate the world. He never did educate them to make seminaries. He never did... Oh, they're good. He never did tell them to go and build hospitals. That's all right. But the church's business is to preach the Gospel. "Go ye into all the world, preach the Gospel to every creature." See? But anything different from that gets shaky, because it's out of the program of God.
E-27
The national life is uncertain, with the world is uncertain. We're just
living in a place to where the whole world's having a nervous
prostration, looks like, shaking all... Every nation, everybody, one's
afraid of the other one. They talk peace.
E-28
Now I want to bring it down a little close to home. See? Church life is
shook up and uncertain. Now, that's what Paul was speaking of. See?
That's where he meant, if the trumpet gives an uncertain sound. Church
life is shook up. The people don't know hardly what to do. They go
wandering from church to church, trying to find out which has the right
thing: from pillar to post, trying to find what is right, where is the
right doctrine.
E-29
But you see, you can't put your confidence in saying, "I belong to the
Methodist association of churches. And I--I'm all right, because I
belong to it." "I--I--I belong to the Baptist association, and I'm all
right." You can't do that. You can't even do it when you say you belong
to the Pentecostal association of churches. You can't do that. You
mustn't do that, because it's not. E-30 Now, you would say, "Brother Branham, you're taking us out on a big limb out here. You're painting a awful dark picture." And I intended to do that. I--I wanted to do it. I did it for a purpose, that I might say this: Is there anything certain? Yes. There's one thing that's certain. Oh, I'm so glad of that, that there's one thing that you can put your confidence in and be sure that it's right. Oh, when everything else is gone, this will be standing. If you'll read St. Matthew 24:35, He said, "Heavens and earth will pass away, but My word shall not fail." God has a certain foundation.
E-31
An old fellow said one time, an old darkie down south... He packed a
Bible, and he couldn't read. And they said, "Why are you packing it
for, Sam?"
E-32
I believe He said over in Luke, I believe it was, where coming down off
the mountain He said to the disciples, "Who does men say I, the Son of
man, am?"
E-33
Years ago when they said to the church, "There's no such a thing as the
baptism of the Holy Ghost. That's just an emotion that people got
themselves worked up," but those who received it knowed that was the
truth. They knowed God was real. And it's been proven, until today the
Pentecostal move of God across the nations has brought more into Christ
than all the rest of them has. E-34 You notice in the Business Men's meetings; you hear them speaking of different ones: the Episcopalians, Lutheran, Presbyterian. Why, you very seldom ever hear of a Pentecostal doing anything any more. That's right. It's all the others. Because why? They have seen their weakness of their creed, and they've returned back to the Word. There you find a foundation, something that cannot be moved, finding there the Holy Spirit living His life in human beings, manifesting Himself to the world. And it makes men thirst for Him: unshakable, undisputable, the Word of God manifested and showing Himself, the Word itself being lived out through human life. What a wonderful thing. There's nothing uncertain about that. You can see where God made a promise, and here it is being made manifest. Hundreds of years ago the prophets spoke of it, and here we see it coming to pass.
E-35
All through the criticism, all through the differences, all through the
creeds, how they've tried to stomp out that Word of God. How they've
tried to substitute education. They've tried to substitute and make
denominations. They have confused themselves. And out of all of it, the
Word of God still stands just as bright and shiny as she ever did. What
is it? It's that thing that is certain. God said, "Both heavens and
earth will pass away but My word shall not fail." Then that's something
that's certain.
E-36
God told Joshua, "Don't turn to the right or to the left from it. Then
thou shall make thy ways prosperous. Then you shall have good success."
And when the church all unites itself together away from its creeds and
upon the Word of God, then the church will have good success. That'll
be the thing that'll stomp out communism.
E-37
But look. But the same communism will have an end. Communism will come
to its end. But the Word of God has no end because It had no beginning.
Amen. It's eternal with God. And if you're anchored in the Word, and
the Word is anchored in you, you're eternal with the Word. Amen.
E-38
Now, Paul said in the Scriptures, it... Like training a soldier--a
soldier to a sound... Now, a soldier's got to learn the sound of
his--of the bugle, or the trumpet. He doesn't know if the trumpet
goes--blows, whether to--to charge or whether to retreat. If he doesn't
know the difference, what kind of a mixed-up army would you have? The
enemy would certainly triumph over a bunch of soldiers that was no
better trained than that. Amen.
E-39
Now. Army, war, it's always been war. We never joined the church, or
come into the church to come to a picnic. We must realize we are coming
to a battleground. I never come for people to pat me on the back and
say, "Brother Branham, you're a wonderful person." No, sir. I come
there with a shield on. I don't need a shield for that. I come with a
helmet and the armor. I come to fight, fight every inch of the ground.
God told Joshua, "Every place the soles of your foot treads upon, that
I give you." So footsteps meant possession.
E-40
What we need tonight is soldiers to possess every Divine promise of
this Bible that God promised to the church--whole armor of God--and to
stand. What we need... Soldiers. Not get a uniform for a dress parade,
it's always different.
E-41
Why, England would blow us up in a hour if we'd cross their path, or
we'd blow them up. Just takes somebody up at the head of the thing
there, to get a little drink or two too many, or fall out with
something, and then away it goes. Here not long ago, they'd... Say a
little piece of goods made in Japan during the war, they'd slam it on
the floor and walk around patriotic. And now you'd pay a bigger price
for it than anything you buy in the nation. What happened? Will that
pay back the lives of those boys that died over there? Certainly not.
E-42
Now every nation tries to arm their boys with the very best of defense
that they can have. Now, I know sometimes these armors are not easy to
pack. I had a brother... "Rookie" they called him, goes out here, and
the army gives him a ninety-pound pack on his back. And that was pretty
near as much as he weighs. They give him a shovel to dig a hole with, a
rifle, and a whole bunch of hand grenades, and, oh, I never seen such a
pack. The poor little fellow couldn't hardly move. And they took him
down the road for a five-mile hike. It like to killed him.
E-43
You know, we're always have to improve. Now, the old airplanes we used
to use back in the first World War... The second World War, why, them
little knockers in the air was altogether out when they put up these
nice big super planes they had. Why, they were nothing. And now, the
ones that they just used in this last war, now they're obsolete. They
don't need them anymore. They've got jets. And see, you're always
trying to improve, to improve on the thing for defense.
E-44
Now, the enemy spy, Satan, tried to find out what could he do to break
into that. So he--he knowed he just couldn't come out and bluff her, so
the only thing that he could do was to get her on reasoning. And that's
what God uses today to fortify His church is His Word. And Satan comes
around with reasoning power. Satan knowed that was a loophole. That was
a place that people would break the easiest, was at reasoning.
E-45
"Now, should we practice Divine healing when we've got the best doctors
in the world?" God gave you Divine healing 'cause He knows you have to
use it. He gave you the gifts of the Spirit.
E-46
Now, God gave Eve and Adam His Word, and He's never changed it. He's
always had... The Christian, or the believer, his Defense is the Word.
Heavens and earth will pass away. Every creed will pass away. Every
denomination will fail. Every nation will sink. But God's Word will
stand eternally. There'll be a time when the morning star won't shine
any longer. There'll be a time that the sun won't shine, and the moon
won't shine, and the world will spin in its orbits. But God's Word
forever will remain the same. Yes. That's something that cannot be
moved, something that you can depend on. It's certain.
E-47
God promised to send Him back again. He'll be here; I don't care how
many infidels and skeptics rise, whatever they do, how much communism
spreads, Jesus Christ will come, and will get a church that's
blood-washed, and will take it on a sky-ride into heaven. Why? It's
certain to be. God's Word said so.
E-48
Now. The great church is armored by the Word. Now, when Jesus come, did
He use that same armor? He certainly did. When Satan come to Him in all
of his strength, and he said, "If thou be the Son of God do certain,
certain things," He said, "It is written..." Right back to the Word.
Satan tried Him a little higher, but Jesus, right back with the Word,
"It is written." There He remained upon that Word, showing to us as an
example.
E-49
Fortified His church by the Word... And the first thing was reason. Now
they say, "Isn't it just reasonable now? If I belong to this church,
isn't that just as good as that church?"
E-50
But when it comes to the church of Jesus Christ, there's only one
avenue. That's birth: birth. It's just like a person--like I've said
many times, like a blackbird setting on a limb, trying to put peacock
feathers in his wings, and say, "You see, I'm a strutting peacock."
See? He stuck them feathers in himself. If he was genuine peacock, his
nature would put forth that kind of a feather.
E-51
Not nothing you try to do, nothing you manufacture... You can't
manufacture reli... You can't manufacture salvation. You can't
manufacture the gifts; you got to bear the gifts. Certainly. See,
the--a sheep doesn't--he doesn't manufacture wool. He has wool because
he's a sheep. He just bears wool. The--the--the cherry tree doesn't
manufacture cherries. It just bears cherries because the life of it's
that way.
E-52
Now, it would be a bit confusing to a man if he never knew the real
sound of the trumpet. Now the man that's never been trained to the
trumpet, and never heard it, well, he might be a bit confused when he
hears something sounds different from what he's heard. He's always
been--heard, "Join the church. Take your letter over here, and over
here." That might be all right. That's all he knows.
E-53
"Well," you say, "my church doesn't teach that." Then it isn't blowing
the Gospel trumpet. Glory. Right. But to them trained soldiers
(Hallelujah.), when they hear that trumpet sound, they know how to
stand in order. Onward, Christian soldiers. Glory! Oh, that's certain. E-54 Now a real sheep will say, "Oh, oh. Oh, oh. No, something squeaks in that. That didn't sound right. Oh, that must've been a French harp. That wasn't a trumpet, 'cause the Bible gives no uncertain sound." It says you shall receive the Holy Ghost, not you might--you will, every one. How long? To your children and your children's children, and them that's far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. He'll sound the trumpet in every race and every generation, and they'll hear His voice. They'll believe it, those that's ordained to life. Amen. They'll believe it because they know it's the Gospel trumpet sounding. It's not uncertain. Every soldier knows how to stand.
E-55
Now, you seen Peter, and John, and James, and the early church marching
forward this way, because the trumpet... Jesus said, "Go ye into all
the world and preach the Gospel (Mark 16, see). These signs shall
follow them that believe." We see Peter, James, John, and the rest of
them lining up, marching to that. And we turning some other way away
from it? One going forward, and another one going backward? One saying,
"Well, that was for that... That sound was for another..." Oh, no. It
can't be that.
E-56
Some of them don't believe in His literal coming. The Bible said He
will come. So we're looking for His coming. If He isn't here tonight,
we'll be looking in the morning. If He isn't here in the morning, we'll
be looking tomorrow night for Him, and we'll keep on looking. If we
fall asleep, or--or we haven't fainted in vain, for the trumpet of God
shall sound that final trumpet, and the dead in Christ shall rise. And
we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them to
meet the Lord in the air and forever be there. That's the sound of the
trumpet. Whether I live or whether I'm gone, don't make any difference.
I'll hear the sound. I'll rise: rise, oh, yes. Yes.
E-57
Now, look at the Pharisees and them in that day. "Oh," they said, "this
man's Beelzebub," when He told the woman at the well where--about her
sins, her husbands she had, when He told Nathanael where he was under
the tree where Philip called him, out under the fig tree praying. Why,
those teachers of that day said, "This man's Beelzebub. He's a devil.
He's a fortuneteller."
E-58
Now the people today, they don't believe there is such a thing as the
baptism of the Holy Ghost. Drop in here or somewhere where they have
the Holy Ghost, and they see the promise of God being fulfilled just
exactly, why, "My sheep hear My voice." They know the sound of that
trumpet because it's the Bible: Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today,
and forever. He's still Hebrews 13:8 exactly.
E-59
That church horn might sound anything. You might have... Look what it's
got today: the church horn. One's running this way, and one's running
that way. And the devil's setting back and say, "Boy, they're just
fighting one another. That's all. I don't even have to move my hand." E-60 Let's just stop, just for a minute, and go back and look at a few now. We're fixing to close, 'cause I don't want to keep you here so long. But let's go back and look at some that heard this sound. Let's take... And they were certain. Now, I've showed you everything else is uncertain.
E-61
Let's just take one old character for a moment. Let's take the prophet
Job. Now, that man went through a test, but he knowed that God required
a burnt offering. That's what God required, and that's all He required.
And no matter how much disaster happened to his home... God don't
always... When you see something going wrong for a fellow, that don't
mean that he's being whipped by God. It might not be that he's out of
the will of God. He knows in his heart whether he's listening to the
trumpet or not. God required this burnt offering, and Job stood right
on it. That's all. E-62 And finally, right down at the last end, when he was... The devil had been turned loose on him, and took his family, and he took his children, took his camels, and took all of his wealth, and broke his own health down; he set on the ash heap. Looked like everything was gone. But he still said, "I know my Redeemer liveth. At the last days He'll stand on the earth. Though the skin worms destroys this body, yet in my flesh I'll see God." Nothing uncertain about that, was there? Not, "I--I--I--I kind of think He lives." He said, "I know He lives, and He shall stand at the last days upon the earth. Though the skin worms destroys this body, yet in my flesh I'll see God." Oh, my. It happened. He was very certain. E-63 Abraham, out walking in the field one day, heard God say, "Abraham, I'm going..." He met Abraham before the written Word, and He said, "Abraham, I'm going to give you a son by your wife, Sarah." And she was sixty-five years old at that time, and Abraham was seventy-five. And they made ready for it, and he wasn't ashamed to testify. He knowed he was going to have a son. And the Bible said, "He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was fully persuaded." Amen. Fully persuaded, that means that he's met the ultimate. Amen. That's it. The ultimate's the end of the road; it's the last thing. It's to the--it's all of it. He said, "I'm fully persuaded that what God promised, God is able to perform." Are you tonight? Are you fully persuaded that this is the Holy Ghost? Are you fully persuaded this is the way? Are you fully persuaded He's a Healer? Are you fully persuaded that He's coming again? Are you fully persuaded He's the same yesterday, today, and forever? Amen. Fully persuaded? Yes.
E-64
Let's carry another one: Elijah, standing up there on the mountain.
He'd fussed with Jezebel and her painted face, and he was kind of
getting tired of it. About all the women pattern after the first lady,
maybe water-head hair cuts, and whatever they had in that day. He'd
fussed at it so much till it--it about to get him down.
E-65
Now, He said, "Elijah, I want you to get up there in the driest place
in the country, plumb up on the mountain where there weren't no
springs. But I have one up there for you."
E-66
God...?... The trumpet of God, His voice, sounded forth and said, "I
have." Not, "Elijah, I might do it"--"I have done it," "I will do
it"--"I've already done it." Amen. That's our God tonight. Not, He will
do it; He's already done it. Amen. He's already done it. Amen. Not He
will, He might, probably He will. He's already done it. "I've commanded
the ravens." E-67 Peter said on the day of Pentecost, "Repent, every one of you, and be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." How's He going to come? I don't know. "The--the promise is unto your children, to them that's far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Now, you couldn't explain that away. The trumpet's done sounded, and I believe it. I obeyed it and got it. Amen. Now try to argue me out of it once. Amen.
E-68 Oh, I'm not perfect, no. Like that night the old colored sister, she said, "Elder, can I give a testimony?"
E-69
Simeon, an old sage about eighty years old (hundreds of years since
even a prophet being on earth) but walking around with a great
reputation. The Holy Ghost spoke to him one day, said, "Simeon, you
know, you're not going to die until you see the Lord's salvation."
Glory.
E-70
Jesus, when He was here on earth, and He was standing there at the
grave of Lazarus... Or, before that, when He was in the discourse with
the--with the people, of talking about how He, yet being not fifty
years old and said that He seen Abraham--did you notice how positive He
was? He said, "Before Abraham was, I AM." "I AM." Not, "I was," or "I
will be," but "I AM." "I'm positive." Then he said at the grave of
Lazarus... Before He went down there, He said--told Martha, He said, "I
am the Resurrection and the Life." Not "I ought to be," or "I will be,"
but "I am." Amen.
E-71
Oh, now, she said she believed it. Now, Jesus never said, "Well, you
know, being that you believe that, and you know that I am the Word,
and--and I--I--you know that I am He that was to come, you've confessed
that, and you've lived... I tell you what we might do. Let's go get the
elders together, and go down, and see if we can do anything about it."
No, no. He said, "I..." Not, "go down and see if I can raise him up."
"I'll go wake him." Amen. Not "I--I'll try," "I will." Nothing
uncertain. That was no uncertain sound, when He said, "I will." "I
will." E-72 Again He said, "Destroy this temple..." "And I'll see what I can do about it." "You destroy this temple, and I will raise it up again in three days." Nothing uncertain. "Now, I'll try. You all might stand around and see if I can do it or not." Oh, no. "I will raise it up." Nothing uncertain. "I will raise it up. You--you destroy it; I'll raise it up." Oh, my. Why? He knowed that He was that Person in the Scripture that David spoke of, "I will not leave His soul in hell, neither will I suffer my Holy One to see corruption." And He knew He was included in that Scriptural promise. So therefore, He was positive.
E-73
Now, can't we be that positive? We take Him example for other things.
As long as God's Word said it, can't we be as positive about the Word
as He was about it? "I am the Resurrection and Life." "I will raise it
up again." Amen. Why? He knowed the Word spoke of it, and He was sure
to come forth. If I'm that person over there in John 5:24, "He that
heareth My Word and believeth on him that sent Me has Everlasting Life,
and I will raise him up again at the last days. He'll not come into
judgment... pass from death unto life"; that's--that's us. And what are
we scared about? What's the matter?
E-74
Now, on the day of Pentecost... Jesus told them in Luke 24:49, "Behold
I send a promise..." Not, "I might do it. I'll see what I can do about
it." "I will send the promise of My Father upon you. But go up there to
the city of Jerusalem and wait until you're endued with power."
E-75
Why? They knowed that the prophet said... Now, listen, the prophet
said, "Precept must be upon precept, line must be upon line upon line,
here a little and there a little. Hold fast to that what's good. For
with stammering lips, and with other tongues will I speak to this
people. And this is the rest, the sabbath." They knowed something had
to take place when it come.
E-76
They knowed that there had to be some experience accompany that coming
of the Holy Ghost. They wasn't taking an uncertain sound. But when they
felt that something move, and seen the Bible evidence moving with it,
they wasn't uncertain. Right out into the streets they went. Oh, my.
They were certain it was the Holy Ghost. E-77 Jesus said in Mark 16, commissioned His church, "Go ye into all the world, preach the Gospel. These signs ('Perhaps, ought to, they will once in a while, maybe.'), they shall accompany those that believe." "These signs shall follow them that believe. In My Name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. If they take up serpents or drink deadly thing, it wouldn't harm them. If they lay their hands on the sick, they shall recover." Not maybe, "They shall." "These signs shall follow them that believe." E-78 Let me sum it up in saying this, brother, sister, for the next few minutes. I believe it. I believe that everything else, anything that's contrary to that is not right. I believe everything that's against that will fall. I believe. I don't care how many communisms, or how many of these isms, and that ism, or churchism, and Romanism, and all other, Americanisms, and everything else will fall. But that Word will stand eternally, because it is a Word. And before it was a Word, it has to be a thought. And a word is a thought expressed. And God, in eternity, it come into His mind. He expressed His thoughts, and it become a Word, and the Word has to be made manifest. That's the reason when He spoke of a Messiah, there had to come a Messiah. He spoke that there would be a church in the last days without spot or wrinkle, and there will be a church there. Hallelujah. He said it. I take His Word. I believe it. E-79 I believe that He promised the Holy Ghost to every believer that would believe. I believe Peter on the day of Pentecost, when he preached that notable sermon, and told them all to repent and be baptized, that these signs would come and this, that whoever called upon the Name of the Lord would be saved. I believe that is the truth: stood on it. I've seen it manifested. I know I'm battling at it. And I know I'm trying to make a footstep. Before I make a footstep, I have to cut loose every tangle, greenbrier, everything else, to get it out of the way. But every time you make a step, you're advancing forward. Amen. Just take the knife and cut it there. E-80 Many of you remember Paul Rader, very precious friend. I was just a boy preacher, kid. I used to come to Fort Wayne and listen at him at the Rader Tabernacle. Great big fellow, he'd get way back, pull up his trousers, raise up his hand, and growl like a bear. And I'd think, going jump through the pulpit, when he'd... He'd start with a text, yeah, in Genesis, and wind up in Revelation, all back and forth. Paul was quite a man. E-81 Talking one day, he said, "I used to be a logger up in Oregon," where he come from. Said "One day, you know," he said, "I--I just was in the mission fields, way over..." somewhere I forget now where it was at. And he was doing missionary work. He believed in God, believed in Divine healing. And Paul said right here at the--where the world church stands today, he said, "If I would've sold my message of grace to the red hot Pentecostals, instead of doing what I've done here with you bunch," said, "and caused myself to worry--called to a place of thousands times thousands of dollars of debt... I've worried myself till I got a cancer and dying now. If I'd have sold my message of grace to the red hot Pentecostals God would've blessed me abundantly for it." Right.
E-82
He said he was down there in the--in the jungles, and he got blackwater
fever, or something. It was terrible. And he was way back out into the
jungles, and a firm believer in Divine healing. And he said he got
sicker and sicker. He prayed and prayed. And some of the missionaries
said they was just go take a boat and go get a doctor. Why, it'd take
them days to get a doctor. And he said, "I--I... Don't do that. Just
let it alone." Said, "If God don't heal me, then I'm coming home."
E-83
And he said he dreamed that he was back over here in Oregon again as a
young man, cutting timber. And said the boss of the camp said, "Paul,
go up here on a certain side of the hill, and fell a certain tree,
certain size." E-84 Brethren, "Nations are breaking, Israel awakening, the signs that the Bible foretold; Gentile days numbered, with horrors encumbered; return, oh dispersed, to your own." This message of God's Word is the truth. Live or die, I'm riding on it. I don't... I'm not fussing with it; I'm not trying to fuss about it. I've just took it, and I'm riding on it. Let the critics rise. I'll shoot every ripple. I'm coming into camp one of these days riding on the Word of God. Amen. I'm certain to arrive there. Let us pray. E-85 Why would you tuggle with your load of sin? Why would you be the condition you are, don't know where you're standing, running from church to church, and from place to place? Why don't you just pitch it in on the cross tonight and ride on the Word? Why don't you just take God's promise tonight and ride on out of the mess, on out into the big blue open like that? Don't tussle with it; don't worry with it. Just believe it; accept it. It's a Kingdom that cannot be moved. Ride on it.
E-86 If you're sick tonight, take God's promise, "I'm the Lord that heals all thy diseases."
E-87
If you've done wrong, if you're wayward tonight, "He that covers his
sin shall not prosper. But he that will confess his sin shall have
mercy." Why not confess it?
E-88
"I was prayed for last night, Brother Branham; I don't feel any
better." That don't have one thing to do with it. I'm not riding upon
my feelings; I'm riding upon His Word. It's His promise.
E-89
Let's take that little something that's put around your heart tonight,
and say... "You know you're wrong. Now, raise up your hand." All right.
You stepped on the log, the log of His promise, the tree, the cross
that was cut down. Put your arms around this cross now. Walk right up
here and say, "Now I'm going to ride on it. Right now I'm going to
believe it. I'm going to accept it. I believe it. I'll never change.
I'm going to stay right with that Word until that one's confirmed. And
then after that one's confirmed, I'm going to reach right over and get
on another one, and start riding right on." See?
E-90
One precious woman stands here at the altar to--to vindicate to God
that she meant business. Won't you come, who had your heads bowed, and
your hands raised up, and wanted to be remembered in prayer? Will you
just walk up here? God bless you. Just come up. That's it.
E-91
I want to do as much as come here and shake the hands of my brethren.
God bless you for your gallant stand. I want you to stay here just a
moment while we pray. God bless you, my brothers, my precious sister.
God bless you. God bless you, my brother. God bless you, brother. You
tried hard... Guide you over the river.
E-92
Would I stand here in a... halfway believing that it might be my last
message that I'm ever preaching, is right here in Phoenix, and say
something that was wrong, and know that my destination lays out yonder,
and I'll be judged by my word? My brethren, let me say this to you and
my sisters, you've been in the meetings. You know what the discernment
and the things... Have I ever said anything to you in the Name of the
Lord but what come to pass? I'll ask anybody. No, sir. Around the world
of thousands of visions, never has it been. And I tell you the truth
tonight. The blood of Jesus Christ is plenty sufficient that it wipe
away every stain and sin. Amen.
E-93
I'm going to ask these ministers now, and brethren, if you'll walk out
here among these people, ever who is... Is that the way you call
ministers to pray with the people? All ministers in here then, that
will want--is interested in seeing souls saved, come here and stand as
a prayer group, where we can bind ourselves together, get away from
everything else, and separate ourselves. This is men and women that's
sealing their destination tonight, by the Blood of Jesus Christ, taking
Him at His Word, riding right up into His Presence on His Word, and
say, "Here I am, Lord. I have nothing to offer but myself, and take
me." Will you come stand with them if you will, anyone who'd want to
come and stand. God bless you, my brethren. That's mighty fine. I like
to see men that's gallant, that's interested in souls.
E-94
We're coming not to some mythical something. We're not coming to
something that's just a make-belief. But we're coming into the Presence
of God, the omnipotent Jehovah God, Who's promised that "Wherever two
or three are assembled in My Name, there I am in their midst." Talk to
Him like you would your friend, say, "Lord, I'm sorry. I've sinned."
And we're going to sing,
E-95
Our heavenly Father, I know that Your words are so true. They can't
fail. They are the Word of God. They are God. And You said, "He that
comes to Me I will in no wise cast out." And these men and women under
conviction, knowing that they're not right, they've walked forward
tonight, Lord, to confess that they're wrong, knowing that they have
been pulsated by some inward motion that bid them come to the fountain.
And here they stand with bowed heads, and hearts, to drink of the
waters of life freely that's been promised by God. Receive them,
Father, into Thy Kingdom. They are Yours.
E-96
Now let the audience stand. Everybody in prayer now. We're going to
pray that these... Now, each one of you that come up here tonight,
feeling that you had sin on your heart... Now, there's nothing you can
do but believe that. The Holy... You accept this by faith. This is
faith that you accept. Jesus said, "No man can come to Me except My
Father draws him first. And all that comes to Me..." He will receive
it. He can't do nothing else, because He promised it. See? Don't rest
upon a sensation now. Rest upon His Word. See? The Word said so. E-97 And upon the basis of His Word, He said, "No man can come except My Father draws him first"... See? Now God drawed you first and, "He that will come to Me, I will in no wise cast him out." See, see? You--you have received it. Only thing you have... He--He died for you. Your sins were forgiven nineteen hundred years ago. You just come now to accept what He did for you. See? And do you believe that He died for your sins? Will you accept Him as your Propitiation--in other words you accept Him, as He took your sins? Will you be glad and thank Him for taking your sins? You believe He did it? Then just raise up your hands, say, "I believe that He takes my sins (Amen.), takes my sin." All right.
E-98
Now, you are now a candidate for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. If you
haven't received Christian baptism, one of these men here will see to
that, that you get Christian baptism. Now, brethren, walk up, let's everyone now, and lay our hands upon these brethren, and pray that they receive the Holy Ghost. Walk right up, brethren, walk right up. Now, the whole congregation, raise up your hands now, everybody...?... Our heavenly Father, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, fill every heart here with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Receive the Holy Ghost. Receive the Holy Ghost. These people here, that's standing and waiting for the presence of the power of God to saturate their lives... |
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